Why can’t I use my phone number for SMS?

There’s a few requirements that your phone number has to meet in order to send or receive SMS:

It has to be a US or a Canadian number.

It cannot be toll-free.

It has to be SMS-enabled, meaning that it has to be configured by our telephony provider to support SMS.

Majority of the US/Canadian numbers we offer are SMS-enabled. However, if you have one that isn’t, you’ll see this in your Phone Settings:

If you see this and you need SMS capabilities, please contact support and we might be able to work with our telephony provider to re-configure your number. Otherwise, you might have to switch numbers.

Why can't I send SMS from my personal cell number?

It is a security measure enforced by our telephony provider. You can only use numbers owned by them to send SMS. An ability to send messages from an arbitrary Caller ID is not allowed, because it could lead to fraudulent activity. It’s easier to confirm the caller's identity over the phone than it is over SMS, hence why you can use your personal cell number when calling in Close.io, but can’t send SMS from it.